Google CEO Testifies at Ozy Trial, Turns Down $600 Million Offer

(Bloomberg) — Alphabet Inc. CEO Sundar Pichai took the witness stand in the fraud trial of Ozy Media Inc. co-founder Carlos Watson, testifying that the search giant does not had never intended to buy the startup for any amount of money.

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Watson is accused of defrauding investors out of tens of millions of dollars by lying about Ozy’s business success, including boasting that Google had offered to buy the company for “hundreds of millions of dollars.”

The once-high-flying media startup collapsed after The New York Times reported in 2021 that COO Samir Rao impersonated Alex Piper, head of YouTube, to congratulate Ozy during a February 2021 call with bankers at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Rao, who pleaded guilty, said earlier this month that it was part of his and Watson’s plan to deceive investors into believing that Ozy was profitable.

Pichai told a jury in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, on Friday that an Ozy acquisition had never been discussed but that Google was considering hiring Watson to head its news programs. A $25 million investment in Ozy was reportedly part of that deal.

“Mr. Watson was a vital part of Ozy Media and we were considering investing in the company to ease the transition,” Pichai testified.

“Have you ever offered to buy Ozy Media for $600 million? » asked prosecutor Dylan Stern.

“No,” Pichai said.

In his opening statement in the trial, Stern said Watson used Google’s fake offer to lure another investor from Ozy following the incident with Goldman.

“When the Goldman deal fell through, Watson found another victim and tricked her into investing $20 million in Ozy by telling them that the Google CEO himself had offered to buy Ozy for hundreds of million dollars,” Stern said. “It was a lie. But Watson didn’t let the truth stand in his way.

Although Watson reportedly claimed to have a deep relationship with the Google boss, Pichai said they had only spoken twice. The first was a “just a few minutes” conversation at a conference, while the second was Watson’s job interview on February 25, 2021, weeks after Goldman’s call.

Watson didn’t get the job.